Funnel Hacking Live 2018: Recap, Thoughts, and 2 HUGE Epiphanies WPCP: 177

Last week I went to Funnel Hacking Live, 2018, in Orlando, Florida. This is the annual ClickFunnels conference ( I had attended the first year they did the event, then skipped the last two years). It had been a few years since I had attended any type of marketing event and when the tickets came out for this event it felt right. This will be my future gauge for whether or not I go to an event: if it feels right when I think about going (no wavering), I’m going to go. No overthinking it.

The beauty of not having gone to a live event in a while was that I had forgotten how much fun it was to connect in person. Which sounds a little like captain obvious, but when you work from home it’s too easy to get caught up in just doing your thing (i.e, staying comfortable), that we forget the importance of stepping out of our environment.

Getting a fresh perspective on your own business isn’t going to happen when you’re “in the thick of things”… you have to step outside of your comfort zone.

The Logistics

I attended the very first Funnel Hacking Live in 2015. TOTALLY different experience (that was their 1st event, this was their 4th). The first one was held in Las Vegas, which is one of my least favorite places. No offense to anyone who lives there, but all events in Vegas are on the strip and it’s just not my scene (doesn’t mean I wouldn’t go to an event there, but I prefer not to).

I was happy that the event was in Orlando, especially since it wasn’t in the middle of summer with crazy humidity. It was at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort. The resort itself was fine, but it was not conducive to holding such a large event. There were literally two main places to eat, along with a few ‘pop up’ options (a couple food trucks, a place to buy wraps, and a salad bar. I will say CF provided a few meals which were awesome. Personally, I’d rather pay more for the ticket and have the meals included. We spent a lot of time in lines for meals). The other thing that was a little bit of a bummer was that the property is laid out so all the rooms are across this ‘lagoon’, so it was a jaunt if you wanted to drop something in your room or just go hang out (this so sounds like #firstworldproblems, but when you’re in an event for 8 -10 hours a day it’s nice to be able to run up to your room for a break, to freshen up, etc.). I’m hoping next year the venue has the rooms in the same building as the event.

The great thing about this place though is that at the end of the day, the logistics didn’t matter. It was all about connecting, the sessions, and being a part of what was going on. There were plenty of opportunities for that.

Schedule-wise the event started Wed. at 1 pm, went to about 10:30 PM (more on the sessions and content below), Thurs. & Friday it was 9 AM -9 PM, Saturday it was 9 AM -5:30 PM ( I flew out Saturday at about 5:45, so left the hotel right after lunch. Tony Robbins was the last session and I’ve seen him before… and I knew I wouldn’t have the energy for him on the last day. They were smart to make him the last session… and I do think there were a lot of people who bought tickets JUST to see Tony Robbins since his events are always about 3 times the price).

Personally, the days were a little long for me. I need a little more time to decompress. Not that it was too much information, but I live at a pretty chill level (which I prefer. Ten years ago I probably would have felt otherwise) and the amped up energy was a little draining (swear I’m not a total fuddy-duddy…).

Speaker Sessions and Content

Day 1: Impact & Income

There was the main session, from 1 – 6:30, with 4 speakers. Russell and two of his inner-circle members. I loved all the sessions from this day, both inner-circle speakers were speaking my language (vulnerability and building a community). Russell’s presentations were great too (if you simply watch how he does things you can learn a ton about marketing. Watch what he does, how he does it, and how he positions his message). Wednesday evening we went back to watch a documentary for a charity Russell is working with called ‘Operation Underground Railroad’ (I go into a little more detail in the podcast on this). This was my first epiphany (which I’ll share later). During dinner, there were vendor booths where you could connect with the sponsors/vendors for the event.

Day 2: One Funnel Away

If you’ve not heard this phrase, it was the tagline they came up with for last years event and has essentially become a motto for ClickFunnels. It basically means you’re only one funnel away from what you want, whether that’s freedom, money, lifestyle, etc. You only need one funnel that works well to change your life.

Day 2 had the biggest line up of speakers: 8 sessions total. 7 speakers were from his inner circle, then it was Russell and Todd (Todd is the tech partner for CF, i.e, he created the technology). It was great to hear the ‘State of the Union’ address from them in the evening which was all about the new features coming to CF (Multi-Dimensional’ Follow-up funnels, more detail in the podcast). After the speaker sessions, there were roundtable sessions. Basically, you could go to one of the two-comma club winners tables and ask them questions directly. The concept is a great idea (I sat in on two), but the room had such high ceilings that the noise level made it hard to hear the discussions. The speakers totally delivered, but you also had people who would just park it at a table and not give other people a chance to sit down and ask a question. After that it was time to hang in person at the bar with some friends… which was brilliant.

Day 3: The Two Comma Club

If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s an award given to anyone who does 1 million dollars in sales with one funnel. ClickFunnels started handing out these awards (check out the picture… it’s like a gold record) last year and they’ve given out over 280 of these awards. The speakers all shared their expertise (health, mindset, strategy, traffic, sales) and then it ended with Russell sharing his strategy for the 12-month millionaire. Which was the set-up for a new coaching program they offered at the event (WAY more detail on this in the audio too. We’d be here forever if I wrote it all out).

What I gained most from that session was watching how he delivered and sold the offer. I had zero FOMO (fear of missing out), and no desire to join (personal decision, not a dig at their offer). Dinner was after the sessions and then you could go back for a live demo of their new coaching program (positioned another way, but that’s what it was). I did a little work with my friend Arlene on something we’re doing together and was pretty much DONE at that point. I happily called it a night at 9 pm (didn’t go back in for the session). In the afternoon we also watched the two comma club awards as well as their NEW award, which was the 10X award… for people who had done 10 million or more with a funnel. Yes. You read that correctly. There were 17 people who received that award. 😉

Day 4: Change The World

Speaker sessions: Two of their inner circle members spoke (Garrett White, who was in the mastermind I was in a few years ago and is awesome, was one of the speakers), Russell spoke (pretty much just selling the coaching program again), and then lunch. Tony Robbins was after lunch and I hit the shuttle to the airport. They also hosted a lunch for all their new coaching students who had signed up (they sold over 1000 spots to an 18k program. More on that in the podcast).

Thoughts on the Sessions and Content 

Overall, the majority of the content was great.

I wish there was a little more teaching (Russell taught as well as a handful of other speakers), but some told what they did, not how they did it. There were a few speakers I didn’t resonate with, but that doesn’t mean the content or value wasn’t there. I pretty much knew I was going to get a ton out of the event because I didn’t go in with any set expectations. My primary objective was to connect with people (friends I only knew online or hadn’t seen in a while as well as making new connections) and get out of my day-to-day environment.

Mission accomplished.

For the sessions that didn’t resonate with me, I simply observed. I refuse to get offended (not by language or anything) by how other people do business. It doesn’t have to be the way I would do it for it to work for someone else.

The sooner you get over yourself and your need to be right, the sooner you’ll get to where you want to be.

Take things in, process them, keep what works for you and discard the rest. It’s really that simple. If you find yourself getting bent out of shape about the way someone is doing something, start by asking yourself why. What about this person/process/product bothers you so much? More often then not I find that when I’m out of alignment, not doing what I know I should be doing, or worse yet, WANT to be doing, that’s when I find fault with other people (fortunately I have the good sense not to publish these assanine thoughts).

You’ll learn more by listening and paying attention than you will by opening your mouth with opinions.

My Two BIG Epiphanies

Holy MOLY, these were gold.

First, after watching what Russell was doing for Operation Underground Railroad, I finally GOT the power of what you can do when you earn a significant amount of money. My big ‘why’ in my business has always been freedom. Freedom to live life on my terms, do work I love, have experiences that bring me joy, and time with people I care about. Of course, I’ve always wanted to earn a significant income too (I have zero judgment about what drives people. I don’t care if you want a Ferrari or a Prius. Just be a decent human being), but mainly because I’ve always associate having a lot of money with more freedom (no doubt there are people who could argue that isn’t necessarily the case).

After watching the Funnel Hackers donate OVER $500k, and then having ClickFunnels MATCH that… I was blown away. They literally presented the O.U.R. team a check for OVER one million dollars, from one single event.

Hugely powerful.

You can truly make a significant change in the world when you can create that kind of money.

All of a sudden, my WHY feels bigger. Even though I don’t know what that looks like yet. I trust that it will get clearer as I continue to do my work.

My second epiphany was simple.

Massive validation for the work I’m doing now and the direction I’m going in.

I feel like all the ‘bootstrapping’ I’ve done with my life over the last year and a half to get out of website work and into work that sets my heart on fire has all come to fruition.

My focus on building a community (Content Creators Facebook Group), giving away as much value as I can, producing more content (in a way that works for me), and taking more time to genuinely foster relationships is exactly what will explode my business (with this new direction). The validation came from the fact that I’ve been showing up and doing the work for the last year and a half as well. The more time you spend on mastery (become the practitioner), the more confidence you gain in your craft. One won’t happen without the other.

And I promise you it’s worth it.

Final thoughts…

I will absolutely go to Funnel Hacking live again next year. I intend to receive a two-comma-club award at the event (more on that journey later and how I plan to achieve it, besides a lot of hard work) and approach it the exact same way I did this year. I’m going to go with zero expectations and the intention to fill up on relationships. I’ll probably fly a day earlier so I have a day in between arriving and the event to have a spa day (may as well be fully rested going into a crazy, exciting 4 days, right? That and I’ll pretty much use any reason under the sun to get a massage).

*ONE WORD OF CAUTION*

There were a lot of people there who were hoping to get clarity on their business or find that ‘right’ idea that would be the game changer.

If that’s what you’re going to an event for, you might be in for a rude awakening. It will probably be information overload and the FASTEST way to clarity is much simpler than attending an event:

DO THE WORK.

I get clarity through doing. As many *brilliant* ideas as I think I’ve had, nothing gets me closer to what I want that implementing what I’m learning, practicing my craft, and following through on the ‘doing’

Hope to see you next year at Funnel Hacking Live 2019!